#YNaijaEssays: Nigeria’s military has a PTSD problem, and we need to start talking about it

It is quite unfortunate that as Nigerians, we don’t prioritize mental health or acknowledge mental illness. Here mental illness is an enigma, we only acknowledge the worst forms of mental illness like Schizophrenia or dementia, illnesses that manifest as a complete regression into violence or childhood like cognition. This invisibility continues to hurt millions of... Read More

Thinking Through

September 24, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: The biggest lie that we’ve been told is that religion is as simple as it first appears

Last weekend, a 13-second video of Timothy Owoeye, the Osun State Assembly Majority Leader was released online. In the clip, Owoeye, who was naked was being queried by some individuals on why he was without his clothes at the middle of the night. Several reports say the lawmaker was seen taking a ritual bath with blood,... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

CATHOLICISM, Christianity, islam, Religion

September 19, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: It’s been 100 years of breakthroughs in Sickle Cell care, but we still have a long way to go

Sometime in 1910, a young black dental student Walter Clement Noel from the island of Grenada studying in Chicago had gone to see Dr James B. Herrick, a cardiologist, complaining of pain episodes, and symptoms of anaemia. Herrick had his medical resident, Dr Irons look into it and Irons found an anomaly in Walter’s red... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

Sickle Cell Disease, YNaija Essays

September 10, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Will Nigerian entertainment ever grow up?

It has been 89 years since the world’s first television broadcast. It may not have looked like the future then, with its grainy images and limited reception, but the small box has since been used by world powers like America to influence, impact and ‘Americanise’, if you will, the world. Buttered and bred on “Queens English”,... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

art, entertainment, rape, sexuality, YNaija Essays

September 3, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Forget about religious extremism, Nigeria’s real problem is ‘I beta pass my neighbour’

Recently, a video surfaced of Nigerian designer, Tope Abiola of Frock it and Rock it where she suggested that instead of Lagos Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode investing in capital projects, he should build a wall between the Lagos Island and Mainland and that the mainlanders would need a visa to visit the island. It seemed a... Read More

Thinking Through

classism, YNaija Essays

August 22, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Youth is messy and confusing, but thankfully we have some answers

Millennials (Generation Y), a term first coined by historians Neil Howe and William Strauss in 1991 when generational study wasn’t yet a fad, refers to the set of children born directly after Generation X, between 1980 and 2000. To terminate controversy, The Pew Institute this year defined the cut-off point for millennials as “Anyone born... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

August 13, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: It is time we squared up and deconstructed the concept of childhood

Over the weekend, a tweet with an image from a children’s book was shared widely on Nigerian Twitter. Picture courtesy of @childbodysafetyng on Instagram. These days, it’s vital that as parents we read everything before our kids get to read them. Imagine this “children’s book”… ? pic.twitter.com/gTePUoNZz1 — Chxta (@Chxta) August 3, 2018 In the... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

childhood, YNaija Essays

August 6, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: A written history of Nigeria’s great film epochs

If we’re being factually accurate, then Nigeria’s first contact with film was in 1903 when Herbert Macaulay invited Balboa and Company who was then doing an exhibition tour of silent films on the West African Coast to Nigeria. The films were shown at the Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos in August of that year. The success of... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

film, Film media, nollywood, YNaija Essays

July 29, 2018

[#YNaijaEssays] The good, the bad and the ugly: What the Nigerian elections really cost

There are few events that can come to define a nation’s identity quite like how it approaches elections. This is because elections expose the priorities and motives of the men and women who seek to lead their country and reveals the electorate’s ethno-religious biases. This is true, even for long-established democracies in seemingly progressive countries... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

2019 election, Abdulsalam Abubakar, adebola williams, Ayodele Fayose, Chude Jideonwo, election, Goodluck Jonathan, Kayode Fayemi, Muhammadu Buhari, olusegun obasanjo, Politics, Umaru Musa Yaradua

July 23, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: The West wants the spoils of colonialism, guilt free and served on a platter, but if Africa will progress, there has to be a reckoning

As a presidential candidate, Macron painted a striking picture of a progressive thinker on western imperialism and other sundry African issues. He termed French colonisation a “crime against humanity” suggesting that France should “offer apologies to all those toward whom we directed these acts.” Granted, this is more than any of his predecessors have publicly... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

colonialism, Emmanuel Macron, YNaija Essays

July 16, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Adeosun’s certificate scandal just shows she’s the typical privileged Nigerian child

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has been riddled with scandal after scandal. Mainagate, grass cutting, budget padding are just a few of the scandals which have completely muddied the pristine white agbada of anti-corruption Buhari rolled into office with. Last week, Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Finance Minister joined the throng of cabinet ministers who’ve made a sham... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

certificate, corruption, forgery, kemi Adeosun, nysc

July 9, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Music is always political and protest music especially so

Falz’s This Is Nigeria seems to have become the de-facto counterpoint to Childish Gambino’s genre-bending self-examination as a black musician transitioning into mainstream spaces and having his identity suddenly become relevant to his music. Where Childish’s music is personal, Falz’s take spans a whole country. However, one of the major arguments is that somehow Falz... Read More

#YNaijaEssays: Grief and tragedy are a constant in Nigeria, but how does it change us as people?

The past week was both unpleasant and horribly depressing for Nigerians. On Saturday the 23rd of May, 86 indigenes of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area according to police reports – a figure disputed by Plateau Governor, Simon Lalong, community leaders and the Christian Association of Nigeria, who put the death toll at over 200 –... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

grief, Kechi Okwuchi, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Stella Obasanjo

June 22, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership III

Last week, Nigeria as a nation celebrated the post-humous honour granted to Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola and the recognition that was given to the 1993 elections. However, much of this joy seemed restricted to certain age demographics. Specifically, only the people who had lived during his own run for the presidency seemed to suggest... Read More

Featured

General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, General Sani Abacha, General Yakubu Gowon, june 12, June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership, Lieut. Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, mko Abiola, Muhammadu Buhari

June 20, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership II

Featured

June 18, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership I

Featured

General Yakubu Gowon, june 12, June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership, Lieut. Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, mko Abiola, Muhammadu Buhari

June 11, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Feminism is radically different today from its predecessors, and that’s a good thing

It is important to note that women have always fought against oppressive social structures. It is the very nature of humans to rail against perceived injustice and to act accordingly to liberate themselves from the sources of such injustice. However, women’s struggles for equity and equality wasn’t always called ‘feminism’. The movement as it is... Read More

Featured

Dora Akunyilli, feminism, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Noura, women

May 21, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Robbery and Fraud – Nigeria’s favourite side hustle

Last weekend, the internet went crazy about Yahoo boys, after information surfaced on the internet that some suspected yahoo boys had been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The circumstances around the arrest (like everything else here) was incredulous. The EFCC operatives waited in the parking lot for the suspected Yahoo boys,... Read More

Featured

Fraud, Robbery, scam, yahoo yahoo, YNaija Essays

May 6, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: How does your friendly neighbourhood Naija celebrity go bankrupt?

Isn’t it amazing how some people achieve remarkable financial success in a relatively short time and somehow plummet into bankruptcy in a shorter time than the money was acquired? Celebrities, actors, athletes – are the major culprits in this instance. When many celebrities achieve the pinnacle of success, they often fail to recognise it. You... Read More

Featured

Adesua Etomi, Alaba, bankrupt, celebrity, Cynthia Morgan, OJB Jezreel

April 29, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Laziness, rights, entitlement and privilege. This is how you create a #LazyNigerianYouth

The concept of human rights has its history in the creation of the United Nations. Following the devastation from the second world war, a war that involved more than 30 countries and lasted, six awful years (1939-1945), sovereign nations came together and vowed that they would not allow such unregulated use and abuse of power... Read More

Featured

Buhari, colonialism, human rights, Lazy Nigerian youth, Privilege

April 15, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: The intrigue, drama and politics of #BBNaija (READ)

As we are down to the last week of Big Brother Nigeria’s third season that has been trailed with controversy and conspiracy theories, sex and outrage. Why does Big Brother (Africa and Nigeria) appeal so much to us that we form support groups, fight strangers on the internet and become obsessed with other people’s lives?... Read More

Featured

Big Brother Naija, double wahala, dramas, intrigues, Politics, YNaija Essays

April 8, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Where are the women in Nigerian politics?

There is no easy way to say this, the reality of present-day Nigeria is this; there are only a handful of women in policy-making positions today, and a good percentage of those women have their positions and independence compromised by their affiliation to several high powered men within the Nigerian political sphere. The future of... Read More

Thinking Through

Dora Akunyuli, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Politics, Remi Sonaiya, Sarah Jibril, women

March 18, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: These four Nigerian women have defied the odds

Nina Simone’s life and legacy looms across the world, and indeed Africa, to which she returned when she was at her lowest, disillusioned by racism and classism and misogynoir. Reports suggest Simone was at her happiest during her time in West Africa and there are pictures of her on the beach in Lagos, jiving away.... Read More

Featured

Buchi Dora Akunyili, Dora Akunyuli, Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Oluwaseun Ayodeji Owosobi, YNaija Essays

March 10, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: The Future of Film in Nigeria is female

It was obvious from the very first promo images that the Wedding Party was going to be big. Everything about the film seemed big, from the extravagant bejewelled crown a keening Adesua Etomi wore in the promo pictures, to the outsize fame of Banky W finally making the jump from music to film. The Wedding... Read More

Featured

Biola Alabi, Bolanle Austin-Peters, female, Kemi Adetiba, Mildred Okwo, Omoni Oboli, rita dominic, The Future of Film, YNaijaEssays

February 25, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: How does an opposition party rise to prominence?

The beauty of democracy is not exactly in the numbers or in the outcome of an election, but in watching the alternative prevail over the norm, in having a new order overthrow the establishment just because the citizens have the capacity to wield such powers. It is this very character of democracy that is rare... Read More

Featured

APC, APGA, CPC, PDP, political parties, YNaija Essays

February 18, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Donald Trump has found an unlikely ally in Nigeria

The man who promised to drain the swamp The single most polarising event in the last decade happened over the course of two days in November 2016. After months of one of the most divisive election campaigns in the United States’ history, Americans went to the polls to elect a new president. Already the 2016... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

donald trump, nigeria, nigerians, YNaija Essays

February 11, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Joro Olumofin, Oloni, are part of literature’s most profitable industry

Before ever Joro Olumofin and his motley crew of assistants ever thought to put out that first Instagram post doling out advice to anonymous inquirers, John Dunton a British author and publisher wrestled with a very particular problem. He had been unfaithful to his spouse and had reneged on his marital vows and wanted to... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

agony aunt, Ja'aruma, Joro Olumofin, YNaija Essays

February 4, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Beggars are all around us but do you really see them?

Lagos is besieged by beggars There is a slight wrinkle in Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s plans to transform Lagos into mega city beggars. Nigeria has seen a steady influx of refugees from virtually every part of the continent due to political instability and economic difficulties in many African countries. They are especially drawn to Lagos, sold... Read More

Thinking Through

beggars, begging business, YNaija Essays

January 27, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Ignored by the government and abandoned by its famous sons, chaos is brewing in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

The North’s Hidden Belt In contradiction with its famous slogan, ‘Food Basket of the Nation’, Benue’s lands have been haemorrhaging blood for the better part of Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration. Food production in the agrarian state is at an all-time low, no thanks to the activities of Fulani herdsmen. Who are the Fulani herdsmen? By... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

crisis, Fulani herdsmen, middle belt, violence, YNaija Essays

January 20, 2018

#YNaijaEssays: Is Psquare’s split the end of Nigeria’s boyband era?

If you ever listened to the massive hit song ‘Shakomo’ in the late 90s, then you should be conversant with the Remedies, Nigeria’s first boyband. Remedies revolutionised the music industry and birthed the new sound of Afro pop of the present generation. It was only natural that the Nigerian music industry, like the rest of... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

boy bands, dayo adeneye, kenny ogungbe, kush, PSquare, remedies, Styl-Plus, Zulezoo

#YNaijaEssays: Nigeria’s military has a PTSD problem, and we need to start talking about it

#YNaijaEssays: The biggest lie that we’ve been told is that religion is as simple as it first appears

#YNaijaEssays: It’s been 100 years of breakthroughs in Sickle Cell care, but we still have a long way to go

#YNaijaEssays: Will Nigerian entertainment ever grow up?

#YNaijaEssays: Forget about religious extremism, Nigeria’s real problem is ‘I beta pass my neighbour’

#YNaijaEssays: Youth is messy and confusing, but thankfully we have some answers

#YNaijaEssays: It is time we squared up and deconstructed the concept of childhood

#YNaijaEssays: A written history of Nigeria’s great film epochs

[#YNaijaEssays] The good, the bad and the ugly: What the Nigerian elections really cost

#YNaijaEssays: The West wants the spoils of colonialism, guilt free and served on a platter, but if Africa will progress, there has to be a reckoning

#YNaijaEssays: Adeosun’s certificate scandal just shows she’s the typical privileged Nigerian child

#YNaijaEssays: Music is always political and protest music especially so

#YNaijaEssays: Grief and tragedy are a constant in Nigeria, but how does it change us as people?

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership III

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership II

#YNaijaEssays: June 12 and the legacy of Nigerian Leadership I

#YNaijaEssays: Feminism is radically different today from its predecessors, and that’s a good thing

#YNaijaEssays: Robbery and Fraud – Nigeria’s favourite side hustle

#YNaijaEssays: How does your friendly neighbourhood Naija celebrity go bankrupt?

#YNaijaEssays: Laziness, rights, entitlement and privilege. This is how you create a #LazyNigerianYouth

#YNaijaEssays: The intrigue, drama and politics of #BBNaija (READ)

#YNaijaEssays: Where are the women in Nigerian politics?

#YNaijaEssays: These four Nigerian women have defied the odds

#YNaijaEssays: The Future of Film in Nigeria is female

#YNaijaEssays: How does an opposition party rise to prominence?

#YNaijaEssays: Donald Trump has found an unlikely ally in Nigeria

#YNaijaEssays: Joro Olumofin, Oloni, are part of literature’s most profitable industry

#YNaijaEssays: Beggars are all around us but do you really see them?

#YNaijaEssays: Ignored by the government and abandoned by its famous sons, chaos is brewing in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

#YNaijaEssays: Is Psquare’s split the end of Nigeria’s boyband era?

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